Presently, autonomous vehicle technology, including advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) technology, is advancing. More and more autonomous vehicles are being put into operation on the roads. In order for autonomous vehicles to operate safely, they must make decisions based on the movement or predicted movement of other vehicles, including other autonomous vehicles and manually-driven vehicles. It is relatively simple for an autonomous vehicle to stay on the road or in a lane, but it is more complicated when the unknown movements of other vehicles are introduced. Thus, it would be advantageous for autonomous vehicles to collect and use information which may be helpful in predicting and/or determining the future motion of another vehicle on the road.
Current autonomous vehicles have an ability to track other vehicles on the road and identify when those vehicles may be traveling in a direction that may lead to a collision. The autonomous vehicle can then attempt to make a control adjustment to avoid the collision. Vehicle tracking typically includes following the body of the vehicle and its heading on the road. A change in motion of the vehicle may be detected after the mass of the vehicle has begun to shift and travel in another direction. The present disclosure is directed to improved systems and methods for tracking vehicles on the road and making determinations regarding the future travel of those vehicles based on collected data which indicates a direction of travel even before the mass of the vehicle has begun to shift.